Bangladesh building collapse kills over 80, injures hundreds

By Wednesday afternoon 70 bodies had been removed from an eight-story building that collapsed on the outskirts of Dhaka, Bangladesh.
Photo: AFP

At least 82 people have died and 700 are injured after a eight-storey building housing several garment factories collapsed on the outskirts of Bangladesh's capital on Wednesday, a doctor said.

Hiralal Roy, a senior emergency ward doctor at the nearby Enam hospital where victims are being transferred, said: "The death toll is now 82. At least 700 people have also been treated at the hospital."

"The toll will rise as conditions of some injured were critical " he told AFP.

But the hospital toll contradicts information from the Bangladesh health ministry which says the death toll is 70.

Health Minister A.F.M. Ruhal Haque said that by Wednesday afternoon 70 bodies had been removed from the eight-story building.

Corpses and the injured were evacuated from the higher reaches of the pile of flattened floors with makeshift slides made from cloth which just hours earlier was being cut into shirts and trousers for export to Western markets.

Earlier, Mohammad Humayun, a supervisor at one of the garment factories said: "We had sent two people inside the building and we could rescue at least 20 people alive. They also told us that at least 100 to 150 people are injured and about 50 dead people are still trapped inside this floor."

Garment factory was staffed at time of collapse

Related Quotes

Company Profile

The collapse happened about 8:30am and since garment factories in the area routinely work 24 hours a day, it appeared likely that the four factories housed in the building were staffed at the time.

After cracks appeared in the building on Tuesday, evacuated workers were forced back into the building, one survivor said.

"The managers forced us to rejoin and just one hour after we entered the factory the building collapsed with a huge noise," said a 24-year-old worker who gave her first name as Mousumi.

"I am injured. But I've not found my husband who was working on the fourth floor," she told AFP, estimating that 5,000 people worked inside the building, which also housed apartments, a bank and shops.

Building may have violated building code

Firefighters and soldiers using drilling machines and cranes worked together with local volunteers in the search for other survivors from the building, which pancaked onto itself and stood only about two storeys tall.

Home Minister Muhiuddin Khan told reporters that the building was illegal and violated the country's building code.

The huge death toll is likely to raise further questions about safety in the garment industry.

The November fire at the Tazreen garment factory drew international attention to the conditions workers toil under in the $20 billion-a-year textile industry in Bangladesh.

The country has about 4,000 garment factories and exports clothes to leading Western retailers.

Tazreen lacked emergency exits and its owner said only three floors of the eight-story building were legally built.

Surviving employees said gates had been locked and managers had told them to go back to work after the fire alarm went off.

The factory made clothes for Wal-Mart, Disney and other Western brands.